SUPER/MARKET/ING

How to Get Paid £50 an Hour For Sitting on Your Butt

Outsmart the marketeers — there’s no need to fall for their dirty tricks

Malky McEwan
Change Your Mind Change Your Life
5 min readFeb 5, 2022

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Supermarket shelves
Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

Gregor got it in the neck from his mum.

He could have taken the direct flight to Edinburgh. Instead, he flew to London and waited two hours for a connecting flight.

His mum berated him for not paying the extra £100 for the direct flight. She was worried he’d be tired from all his travelling.

“That’s not how I looked at it, Mum. I asked myself if I was prepared to sit in an airport for £50 an hour — and I was.”

Gregor turned the proposition on its head.

Instead of asking himself if he was willing to pay an extra £100 for a shorter flight, he couched it as an earning opportunity.

It’s a neat idea — where else do you get paid £50 an hour to sit on your backside doing nothing? I mean, he’s not a politician.

Prices are up, wages are down

If you haven’t heard, inflation is going through the roof. We haven’t seen rates like this since Apple was a tiny pip.

Inflation is hitting double digits.

At least, that’s what they tell you.

In reality, it is much more. Secondhand cars, air travel, and groceries are up by 30% — 50%. Electricity and domestic heating are up over 100% and are set to rise more.

And it’s worse for the people who can least afford it.

Out of necessity, Jack Monroe wrote a budget recipe book when she and her son were surviving on benefits. She is now a campaigner against poverty and inequality. She started a debate on Twitter about the rising cost of living.

The cost of inflation is grossly underestimated, she tells us.

This time last year, the cheapest pasta in her local supermarket was 29p for 500g, today the same pasta is 70p — that’s a 141% price increase.

The cheapest rice she could buy a year ago was 45p for a 1kg bag. Today it is £1 for 500g — that’s a 344% price increase.

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